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Press Conference |
The Korean Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service must recognize the leukemia break-out at Samsung Electronics Semiconductor as industry-related disease immediately!
The South Korean Ministry of Labor must make it's investigation of semiconductor enterprises public!
We condemn Samsung for its no-union management policy, for concealing industry-related disease and for destroying workers' health rights!
○ Date and Time: July, 2, 2008, 12:00pm ○ Place: COEX Conference Center, rm 310 (3rd fl., rm 10) (at the site of the World Conference on Safety and Health at Work) |
Committee to Investigate Samsung Semiconductor Leukemia and Secure Basic Labor Rights
The Solidarity for Healthy Labor World, Gyeonggi Solidarity (preparatory), Gyeonggi Power of Working Class, Gyeonggi Irregular Workers Center, Dasan Human Rights Center, All Together, Democratic Labor Party Gyeonggi Province Branch, KCTU Gyeongi Legal Center, KCTU Gyeonggi Regional Council, National Assocition of Professors for Democratic Society, Socialist Party Gyeonggi Province Branch, Industrial Accident Workers Alliance, Samsung General Labor Union, Samsung Worker Reinstatement Struggle Committee, Center for Worker Safety and Education, Incheon Industrial Accident Workers Alliance, Korean Metal Workers Union, Korean Labor Network Alliance, Korean Institute of Labor Safety and Health (Total 19 Organizations)
For questions or more information:
▶Joanne Lee (KCTU Gyeonggi Regional Council Legal Director) 010-8799-1302
▶Soon-nam Baek (The Solidarity for Healthy Labor World General Secretary) 011-9779-6011
▶Committee cafe : cafe.daum.net/samsunglabor
▶ e-mail : sharps@hanmail.net
Press Conference Schedule
Moment of Silence
Report on Committee activities and speech
Speech 2 -------------------------Yong-han Kim/ Democratic Labor Party Gyeonggi Province Branch Chair
Speech 3 -----------------------Sung-hwan Kim/ Samsung General Labor Union
Press conference statement ----------Hyun-sup Nam/ Incheon Industrial Accident Workers Alliance
Question and answer
[Documented 1]
History and Current State of Samsung Semiconductor Leukemia Victims
1. Samsung Semiconductor Leukemia Victims Current State
■ Confirmed leukemia victims at the formation of the Committee
1) Sung-hoon Lee (male) Gihueng Factory, equipment engineer
-1997: Passed away due to acute leukemia.
2) Min-woong Hwang (male) Gihueng Factory, equipment engineer.
- Born 1974. October, 1997: Began work at Gijeung Factory.
- October, 2004: Diagnosed with acute leukemia. July, 2005: Passed away.
3) Yoo-mi Hwang (female) Gihueng Factory, manual worker (3rd line defusion stage).
- 2003: Began work.
- June 2005: Diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. March 2007: Passed away.
- June 2007: Applied for deceased-grade industrial accident insurance.
4) Sook-young Lee (female) Giheung Factory, manual worker (3rd line defusion stage)
- December 1994: Began work.
- June, 2006: Diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. August, 2006: Passed away.
5-6) 2 manger-level workers.
- Victims according to Samsung Semiconductor, 1 person working after complete recovery, 1 deceased.
■ Leukemia victims confirmed after the formation of the Committee
7) Gyo-chul Joo (male) Giheung Factory, Technical Director (defusion state management).
- 1983: Began work. Roughly February 2006: laid-off due to structural readjustment, later transferred to Samsung Electronics.
- March, 2006: Diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. Currently fighting the illness.
8) Ji-yeon Park (female) Cheonan Factory, manual worker (counting stage).
- September, 2007: Diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. Currently fighting the illness.
9) Name unknown (female) Giheung Factory, manual worker.
- September, 2003: Outbreak of acute leukemia. 2004: Passed away.
- Currently communication with Committee has been stopped.
10) Name unknown (female) Giheung Factory, manual worker.
- Roughly 2001: Diagnosed with acute leukemia. Moved to country after treatment.
- Colleague of Sook-young Lee.
11) Name unknown (female) Giheung Factory, manual worker.
- 1995: Passed away due to acute leukemia.
12) Ok-yee Kim (female) Cheonan Factory, manual worker.
- January, 1991: Began work. 1996: Stopped work.
- 2005: Outbreak of acute leukemia. Currently fighting the illness.
13) Name unknown (female) Giheung Factory, manual worker.
- 1999: Began work. April, 2008: Diagnosed with accute myelogenous leukemia.
■ Other cancer and related disease victims
1) Name unknown (male) Giheung Factory, equipment engineer.
- Wegener's granulomatosis
2) Name unknown (male) Giheung Factory, equipment engineer.
- melanoma
3) Name unknown (male) Giheung Factory, research
- 1984: Began work. Roughly 2002: Severe anemia.
4) Name unknown (female), worked for Samsung Electronics.
- Radition exposure while working. 2007: Diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia. Currently fighting the illness.
5) Name unknown (female), Changwon Samsung Techwin
- Worked on production line for roughly 3 years.
- Summer, 2005: Diagnosed with cancer.
6) Name unknown (female), Pusan Samsung SDI
- Worked for roughly 2 years.
- August, 2005: Diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia.
* Besides cancer there are also reports of victims of miscarriage, sterility, skin disease, respiratory disease, musculoskeletal system disease, deformity and multiple sclerosis-related disease in children and other illnesses.
2. Past Activities and Direction of the Committee
■ Committee Goals
1. Get past Samsung's attempts to hide the problem of industry-related disease and win acknowledgement of leukemia as an industry-related disease.
2. Make the importance of basic labor rights known to Samsung workers who have been disadvantaged by Samsung's no union management policy and contribute to their organization.
3. By contributing to the expansion of the basic labor rights (health rights) of semiconductor workers for Samsung, which has been beautified as a "vanguard industry" without attention to the cases of victims of industry-related disease, helping to build an anti-neoliberal globalization movement.
■ Main Activities
1. Response to the Ministry of Labor and Occupational Health and Safety Agency's investigations of 13 semiconductor manufacturing factories.
2. Counseling and organizing related to semiconductor workers' leukemia, cancer and other industry-related diseasees. (expansion of work to protect for semiconductor workers health and human rights.)
3. Solidarity for the construction of a democratic union at Samsung, which is essential to the protection of workers' health rights.
4. Exposing the problems with neoliberal globalization and building solidarity with workers in areas where there have been victims of the semiconductor industry such the U.S., England, Taiwan, China and other countries.
5. Street outreach for change at semiconductor factories two days every month.
6. Fundraising for hospital fees and other support for victims.
[Documented 2] Press Conference Statement
The Korean Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service must grant industrial accident compensation to Samsung Semiconductor leukemia victims immediately!
The Ministry of Labor must stop concerning its self with the company's wishes and make the results of its investigation public!
We condemn Samsung for its no-union management policy, for concealing industry-related disease and for destroying workers' health rights!
The Committee to Investigate Samsung Semiconductor Leukemia and Secure Basic Labor Rights was founded in November 20, 2007, in order to expose the truth about Samsung Electronics Semiconductor's cover-up of industry-related disease and win the right to health for Samsung Semiconductor workers.
Despite the fact of a mass outbreak of leukemia and the many workers who have died or are fighting the disease, Samsung Semiconductor has never conducted a real investigation of the issue and is instead trying to cover it up completely. After manipulating the truth about deceased Yoo-mi Lee's work, it has lied about the number of workers who contracted leukemia at the Giheung factory. It has also been taking pictures of and conducting every sort of surveillance against the members of the Committee who are working to expose the truth and tried to stop the news from getting out. Far from conducting the investigation into industry-related disease that is needed, it is clear that Samsung Semiconductor is using every measure possible to cover up the problem.
As the Committee has sought out more information about the known cases of leukemia, it has learned about other Samsung Semiconductor workers who are fighting the disease. According to the statement by Samsung Semiconductor Giheung Factory, 6 workers collapsed due to leukemia and of these 5 passed away. However, the Committee has come to know about more and more cases and confirmed that more than 10 young workers have contracted leukemia.
Even more serious, we have also come to know about cases of rare cancers such as granuloma and melanoma and of multiple sclerosis and other such diseases of the peripheral nervous system related to toxic materials, all kinds of skin and respiratory diseases, miscarriage, sterility, irregular menstruation, anemia, and in pre-birth deformity in workers' children.
Given the severity of this situation the Ministry of Labor should not simply believe Samsung's statements, but instead should carry out a thorough investigation into exactly how many workers have contracted leukemia and other industry-related diseases and into whether Samsung Electronics is in fact conspiring to cover up the problem. However, because it does not think the issue is important, or perhaps because it is afraid of a great company like Samsung, the Ministry of Labor is simply waiting around for report of the investigation by the Occupational Health and Safety Agency.
Most glaringly, the Ministry has done nothing for an entire year after the application for industrial accident insurance for Yoo-mi Hwang in June of 2007. Paying no attention to the emotional suffering of a family due to their daughter's death and their economic hardship from having to shoulder the hospital bills, the Korean Workers' Compensation and Welfare Services has said that they have to wait for the results of the Occupational Heath and Safety Agency's investigation.
In order to resolve this issue, the Committee makes the following demands of the Ministry of Labor and Samsung Electronics:
First, the Ministry of Labor must recognize these cases as industry-related disease and grant coverage.
In accordance with the law on compensation for industry-related injury and illness, unless there is clear counter evidence that the primary cause of these illnesses is not occupation-related the Korean Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service has the duty to recognize these illnesses as industry-related and grant compensation for them without delay.
Second, the Ministry of Labor must include an expert recommended by the families of the victims in the investigation of Samsung Semiconductor in order for it to be carried out in a just manner.
Samsung has ordered workers to clear away the chemical materials they are using when the investigation team entires the company. It is quite apparent that Samsung is thinking only of its image and trying to cover up the issue. In order to rectify this problem a thorough investigation which includes an expert recommended by the Committee is necessary.
Third, Samsung must stop its attempt to cover up the problem and its no-union policy and protect the 3 labor rights immediately.
Samsung is representative as a company which has completely denied the right to form a labor union to its workers. Samsung has used every sort of shameless tactic such as appeasement, threats, following workers and even kidnapping them to stop its workers from organizing. The result is that workers at Samsung do not know what the chemicals they are, do not know if they are being given proper safety equipment and cannot dare to ask the management. Not only this, but workers who contract leukemia are told it is just an individual problem, are appeased with money and convinced not to apply for industrial accident insurance. We would like to ask if a company that acts in such a way, which is completely denying the 3 labor rights to its workers and destroying their health rights, deserves to be a participant at the World Conference on Safety and Health at Work. It is highly unlikely that a company that denies its workers the right to organize would actually protect their right to health. Samsung must stop its attempt to cover up the industry-related disease and grant its workers the labor rights they deserve.
Finally, the Ministry of Labor must investigate the health condition of workers at Samsung Electronics Semiconductor and of the roots of their health problems in their work environment and take steps such that no more workers will become victims. The Ministry of Labor has said its investigation of the 13 semiconductor-producing factories in South Korea is completed. In relation to this, the Committee visited the Ministry of Labor and sent a public inquiry asking for at least the results concerning chemical materials used at the factories to be made public. However, the Ministry of Labor has said that this information is an "industrial secret," "personal information" and "could create international dispute" and has thus refused to release the information.
However, in order that no more worker fall ill or become injured, the Ministry of Labor must carry out transparent research into industry-related disease. This is the duty of employers and the government to protect the lives and heath of workers.
-The Korean Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service must grant industrial accident compensation to Samsung Semiconductor leukemia victims immediately!
-The Ministry of Labor should stop concerning its self with the company's wishes and make the results of its investigation public!
-We condemn Samsung for its no-union management policy, for concealing industry-related disease and for destroying workers' health rights!
July 2, 2008
-Committee to Investigate Samsung Semiconductor Leukemia and Secure Basic Labor Rights-